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Two brilliant nights out
Back in November a concert tour teaming up Neil Finn and Paul Kelly was announced. One show was scheduled for Perth for March 14th and fan club members (for Neil Finn and probably Paul Kelly) got a 10% discount on the ticket price as part of a pre-sale. Of course I ordered our tickets as soon as they went on sale. About a week later, a second show was announced for the next night, which was a Friday. This suited the Scientist better as he was working on Friday and I bought a second set of tickets. My plan was to either sell the first set or go both nights. My greediness got the better of me and I eventually asked a friend to join me even though she didn’t know much of the music.
Perth has been through a bit of a dry spell/drought since early summer although we did get a brief shower one day in early March. That one wasn’t enough to have any impact locally. As the day for the concert got closer, it became apparent there was a good possibility of rain for that day. Thursday came and the rain started to come down and carried on for most of the day. It was really a nice and steady rain, just the type we needed right now. Of course now the concern was whether this would carry on into the night. Most of the forecasts said yes and it rained well into the afternoon. My friend came and we started our journey into Perth while the rain seemed to get heavier all the time. I had looked at the weather radar and it looked as though the rain would be clearing at some point although I guessed it was possible for more showers to develop. When we arrived at King’s Park, it was bucketing down and we just sat in my friend’s car for a while before making the effort to go out into the deluge. The rain let up a bit so we made our move along with many others along the road where we parked. People were getting into all sorts of rain gear and carrying all sorts of paraphernalia to keep themselves covered. One group of people from the car next to us used big black plastic bags to cover themselves and it seemed to be a good idea since the bags covered them shoulders to toes. My friend had a couple of rain jackets available and I’d brought along a light jacket as it was so cool. We took plastic grocery bags to cover our feet while we sat. Then we started the long walk to the venue from the car. As we walked along, the rain let up even more and eventually stopped altogether. I pulled off the hood of the jacket I was wearing and pulled off the billed cap that was supposed to provide a bit of shelter for my glasses. At the gate, the  bag checks were pretty cursory and there were staff at the front handing out cardboard seats and plastic bags to the concert-goes. It was looking a bit more promising at this point.
We got over to the hill closest to the stage and planted ourselves in our chairs to wait. The start of the show was a bit delayed while some staff climbed onto the roof of the stage to try to remove the water sitting up there. At the front of the stage there were VIP seats where a single person was seated at the time. The guys on top started pushing water over the edge before someone must have realised the water was falling onto those seats. Next thing we knew, the lady was on her feet and carrying her belongings away before a massive dump of the water was done and staff members were going up and down the aisles, wiping off the seats. Soon afterwards the show began and we settled in for the night. We did have a bit of excitement a while later when a large branch from a tree on the other side of the venue came crashing down with a big noise. Fortunately there were no people sitting in that area at that time but it was rather close to where people would eventually be sitting. Several people from the venue rushed over there to check it out and I guess it was deemed safe as there didn’t seem to be anything roped off later on.
The first performer was Grace Woodroofe, a local artist who was unfamiliar to me. Her set ran for about half an hour or so and was quite pleasant. Next up was Lisa Mitchell who is reasonably well known in Australia. She played at the Blues and Roots festival a few years ago when I went to see Crowded House and I saw a bit of her show then. She came out in a rain poncho with what appeared to be shorts or a skirt underneath. She said she would continue to wear it in solidarity with the crowd which had many in similar gear. It’s funny how the quality of the sound on the acts improves with each performer. The first one just had a guitar and herself while the second one had a bit more plus two microphones…then the big sound of the main act. Her set was quite enjoyable and I recognised a couple of songs. Â I think the rain poncho must have got pretty uncomfortable by the end of her set as it had warmed up outside, probably warmer than all day. I’d shed all jackets by this time and was quite comfortable for a while. Â About midway through this act, a bunch of people moved into the dance area set up to the right of the stage. Normally I would have been there but I didn’t think my body would be very happy to be standing for hours on end for two nights running. I stayed put in my chair with my friend…My friend wouldn’t have been up to the standing anyway so it made it easier to stay . I think my body was thankful for my consideration in the end…although sitting there for hours wasn’t terribly comfortable either.
The main act came out not too long after 7:30, which was good considering the delays for the earlier acts. Neil and Paul came onto the darkened stage (aside from the low-lit backdrop) carrying lanterns to the front of stage and setting them down. With that dim light, they started playing the first song and the show was on. It was a really good show with lots of banter, much of it related to the all the rain ponchos in the crowd and the day’s weather, which also had included nasty thunderstorms in some areas. The music was absolutely fantastic and it was was wonderful to hear some of the variations done with each of the singer’s songs. Mostly they sang their own songs with harmonies from the rest of the band. But for two songs, they covered the other singer’s song. Paul Kelly sang “Into Temptation” a great song already and he made it his own. Neil joked afterwards that the song was no longer his because Paul had made put his own spin on it and so well.  Neil sang “You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed” and it was incredibly moving. I must admit I haven’t heard Paul’s version so cannot compare it at all yet. Most of the earlier songs were love songs and then there were quite a few slow songs before they picked up the tempo with many of their most popular songs. The crowd sang along to some of the later songs but I found it wasn’t as animated as it usually is for these shows. But it was all good in the end with two encores and finishing off with the Buddy Holly song, “Words of Love”. This is a funny song for me because I’ve only heard Buddy Holly’s version a few times. I mostly know it from a compilation of  Beatles songs I had in my early teens and I think of them when I hear it rather than Holly.
That was the last we saw of the rain that night. It was as though the rain cleared out just in time for our show.
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On Friday the Scientist and I took off around mid-afternoon. The skies had cleared and it was a warm and muggy day. There was a chance of rain early in the day but we saw none of that around here. The forecast for the evening was to be clear and for this I was quite grateful since it made for a more relaxing outing all around. Â We parked outside King’s Park and walked through the park to the venue. The Scientist had to go back to the car after we’d gone part way as we’d forgotten to bring a blanket to sit on and thought it might be useful with the wet ground. He also realised we’d both forgotten about getting a parking ticket to see us through to 6pm so was able to take care of that too. I continued to walk on and then stopped to take some photos until he caught back up with me. It was about ten minutes before the gates were due to open but we went into the venue to get our bags checked and tickets scanned ahead of time, then waited with the crowd for the “gates” to open. This didn’t take very long as they opened a bit early and we made our way across the grounds to the closest spot we could find in the grassy area. There were a couple of ladies already sitting there and we situated ourselves next to them and had a great view of the stage for sitting. We’d been given the cardboard seats again and used those instead of the blanket. They were reasonably comfortable for the time we used them.
We’d brought sandwiches from Subway to eat since our last experience of the food outlets here was unimpressive aside from the pizza. I hadn’t eaten lunch so had gotten a foot-long sub with intentions of eating half early and the rest later on…This was a bad plan from the start since we had nothing to keep it cool. As it was our sandwiches were a bit warm by the time we got there so the chances of it being edible later on were pretty low. We also had some Lebanese sweets and some chocolate to enjoy…that got a bit soft by this time but we ate it anyway.
The show started pretty much on time this night and Grace Woodroofe’s set was the same or very similar to the night before. Also, she had someone else accompanying her whereas she’d been alone on stage the night before. Turns out her family were sitting almost behind us and she came out after she was finished to sit with them for a awhile. We noticed people starting to head over to the dance area fairly early on in Lisa Mitchell’s set this time and pulled up stakes and moved over there to get a place right at the front. On Thursday people took longer to go over but it filled up quickly. This time they started earlier but it was quite a while before it looked very full there. At no point did we feel particularly crowded in either. As seems to happen as these shows, we ended up with people near us who’d already had a bit too much to drink. And they always seems to behave foolishly…talking loudly throughout the show…fortunately someone else moved between me and them and that noise was blocked to some extent later on.
I didn’t take my camera with me on Thursday night since it seemed so likely to rain and I didn’t expect to have a chance to take photos…and/or my camera was likely to get soaked. On Friday I did take my camera and this was my first chance to see how it did for concert lighting since I got it in November. Once we moved up front I took a lot more photos with expectations of many being unusable. The show began pretty much on time and what a brilliant night it was. I think having the Scientist there to share it made it so much better by itself. He knows the music and he is as much of a fan as I am of both singers. Musically I think the band was in incredibly good form. The crowd started singing along quite early and kept it up through almost the entire show. This made for more enthusiasm on stage from the band. Neil Finn later tweeted “Perth , when you get excited we get excited , when you sing we swoon.” Neil awarded us the best crowd of the tour so far and Paul seconded it. There is something about the sing-along that is so very infectious and it makes you feel so much more part of the show than just sitting passively and watching. I think the outdoor experience adds to this feeling. One fan didn’t go to this show as she’d gone to Sydney to see three shows at the Opera House. She said  the crowd sounded absolutely beautiful. For my part it made for a very magical evening. After 2.5 hours I was still wanting more and I think the band might have played on had it not been the curfews as the venue.
As the crowd dispersed at the end, we hung around at the front. Next thing I know the Scientist has gone up to one of the guys at the stage and asked about any stage set lists that we could have. After a couple checks with people further down the line, it turned out that Neil’s set list from the front of stage was available and next thing I knew it was mine. :D I am incredibly grateful that he asked for this as I am too timid to go up and ask myself. We stopped at the merchandise tent on the way out and didn’t find much aside form t-shirts and a poster and some albums for sale. The shirts were $40 and I just couldn’t justify the expense for a t-shirt….but the poster was a limited and numbered edition signed by Neil and Paul and the artist. It was $50 but I decided to get it anyway and soon had a lovely poster rolled up. I think this is our most expensive poster ever so it will require a decent frame so it can be displayed properly. It still smells of the ink used to print it and has a really cool texture to it.
Finally we started the walk back to the car. On the way we stopped at the edge of the park that overlooks the city of Perth so I could take some photos. Right about this time, a fireworks display started up and we had some extra entertainment for our night. I took heaps more photos and then a couple of the city at night before we carried on to the car. It was such a lovely night to spend with the Scientist. And for added value, my feet were feeling pretty okay this time, which is a lovely change from the agony they are usually in after standing for hours.
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Now and then
Back in December we became aware that the old Australian band Icehouse were doing a tour and Perth was lucky enough to get the one show where they were the single headline act. After a brief debate, I procured tickets for the evening on the green show being held at King’s Park in the city. About this time, I decided to listen again the the Man of Colours album that was popular during my last years of college back home. Surprisingly, I found it had really stood the test of time for me and I still like everything on that album.
This rediscovery sent me down memory lane and I soon was searching through boxes, looking for old photos and personal items. I think it was back in 1986 that I was particularly privileged to see Icehouse for the first time. It was a free concert held on our college campus grounds and the old Canadian band, Men without Hats, was first on the bill. Men without Hats were fairly forgettable with my only memory of their one hit, “Safety Dance” which was popular a few years earlier around the time I started at the university. Icehouse, on the other hand, were a very engaging band and I remember enjoying the entire show. I was there with some others from our dorm and managed to get fairly close to the stage. I even managed a handful of photos but didn’t think I’d got anything good. Another girl offered to share hers when she got them developed. Funny thing is that mine all came out better than hers in the end. They weren’t great but they were decent. And that’s exactly what I was searching through my old boxes to find. Sadly, I wasn’t successful in locating the photos but I’m sure they are here somewhere. I ran across them a year or two ago while looking for something else and there were many other photos from that period in the box.
While I didn’t go to that first concert with the Scientist, he did happen to go with another friend of ours and also enjoyed the show. So it happens that this is the only band we’ve seen in two different eras of our lives. Since I’ve lived in Australia, I’ve come to know many more Icehouse songs, and so was far more prepared for the wonderful evening of music we experienced.
When we first arrived at the show, the Scientist and I sat down amongst several other general admission ticket holders. We soon headed to the venue’s stalls to find some filling food for the evening. We somehow had the mistaken impression that the “Mexican” food would would be of some value. Sadly, our burritos were nothing like any other I’ve eaten. I think even those nasty frozen burritos heated and purchased from convenience stores in my youth were probably more authentic. The lack of value became more obvious as we watched a neighboring group munching on a rather fantastic variety of foods brought for a picnic. Note to selves: next time, bring your own food! Later on I ventured back up in search of further sustenance with the spud place in mind. Once there, I found nothing on the menu that appealed and soon found myself perusing the wood-fired pizza menu. The Scientist had suggested this initially but I wasn’t in the mood. Now it looked rather nice so I ordered one and waited and waited for it. This is the price paid for ordering so late. The pizza turned out to be far superior to anything else we’d eaten or even seen for sale at the venue.
Before we saw Icehouse, three support acts entertained the crowds. The first act was Clare Bowditch and we saw her once before as support for Leonard Cohen. I quite liked her as a performer although I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of her music. Second act was Josh Pyke, a singer-songwriter much acclaimed in Australia. His music was okay but he hardly spoke and just played one song after another with almost no audience interaction. I can only hope he does a better show when he has more time. Final support was Washington, led by Megan Washington, and brilliant as always.
It was during Washington’s set that we left our comfortable spot sitting in the crowd and moved to the dance area just to the right of the stage. Up there, we managed to get quite close to the stage and could see everything much better. A couple of girls who were obviously huge Washington fans, took up much of the dance area dancing and showing off. As it wasn’t crowded, it was kind of amusing, except for those times when the one girl kept whistling so loudly it hurt my ears.
Once Washington finished, they both disappeared and the area slowly started filling up with what I would call an older crowd of Icehouse fans. The crowd was rather excited and exuberant, so much that there was singing en mass to some of the popular old songs being blasted over the speakers. I’d never experienced this before, not even at the Crowded House concerts where sing–alongs have been the norm. The band finally came on stage to the familiar sounds of the song, “Icehouse”. Funnily enough I’d never heard this song until late last year while watching a video of an earlier show. Anyway, there was plenty of music and fun to be had during the show with mostly songs that I knew and only a couple that were unfamiliar to me. One of the highlights of the evening was hearing Iva Davies play his oboe during “Man of Colours”, which was sung by Michael Paynter on this occasion. There was plenty of banter and then there were the saxophone solos. Probably my favorite song was “Great Southern Land” which is their iconic Australian song. It was really something to hear it live.
There was to be one low point during the show, which involved some of the surrounding crowd. During some of the band banter, I noted there was some sort of argument taking shape just behind me. I’m not totally sure but it seemed to have started by some beer being spilled and another party being unhappy with this event. The voices became louder and louder and next thing I knew, punches were being exchanged and I found I was flung forward a couple times as the guy behind me was flung into me. The Scientist managed to pull me out of that mess and security soon came around and presumably removed those involved. I was a bit shaken for a few minutes but then was able to get back into the fun. And somehow we had moved even closer to the stage which afforded a better view of proceedings.
The music and entertainment ended soon enough and we soon found ourselves making the long trek back to our car. We had parked outside the park to avoid the heavy traffic going in when we arrived. I think this paid off as we had no troubles getting out once we got to our car. I think it was a far different story for those parked inside.
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Paul Kelly and Neil Finn
Here in Australia, Easter Monday, a public holiday here, fell on Anzac Day, another public holiday. The Scientist and I had the joy of attending Songlines Anzac Day concert with Paul Kelly and Neil Finn headlining. It was held at Red Hill in an almost brand new outdoor auditorium located in the Perth hills. It’s a bit unusual to have an outdoor concert this late in the season but Perth’s unseasonably warm and dry weather has been beneficial in this instance. The day turned out to be quite pleasant and jackets weren’t required despite being at a higher altitude in the hills.
I will start off by saying the venue has some issues to iron out, mostly with parking and food. Signs leading to the venue were confusing and many concert-goers were delayed. The organisation of traffic at the end of the show was chaotic at best. We waited half an hour before attempting a departure. Outside food wasn’t permitted but the venue didn’t have enough catering to feed the masses. They apparently had nothing left to serve before long before the main acts were due on stage. After finding other venues serving some pretty decent food at a reasonable price, we risked eating food on-site this time and found it quite disappointing. Healthy options were at a minimum and prices were at a premium. My other gripe is that people were smoking in the venue. It has been banned at every other concert I’ve been to, so I was quite surprised to find several people lighting up on this occasion. I honestly thought it had been banned in public events like this, but apparently that isn’t the case.
Not knowing exactly where we were going and also hoping to get a good seat, we left home quite early and arrived over an hour before gates were due to open. We had no trouble parking on-site (unlike some later arrivals) and soon found ourselves in line with others who had arrived even earlier. We were moved up pretty quickly in anticipation of gates opening but sound check was still in progress so all we could do is stand and listen to the sound check. Â Nevertheless, we were inside well before the official opening time of 6:30pm. We were surprised to find the bag checks weren’t particularly thorough. Despite bans on the outside food, the only thing that was really being searched for was alcohol.
We immediately found our way down to the front of the auditorium, which is set up like an amphitheatre. I was surprised to see, however, the area in front of the stage filled with cement instead of grass. I’m assuming this was a call they made to make maintenance easier but it looked rather unusual. We started out at the front row of seats but moved to just in front of the stage once a few others started to congregate there. The concrete was not the most comfortable place to sit but it was dry and it wasn’t cold there.
The first act started after 7pm with Ben Merito, a young New Zealand-born singer who now lives in Perth. I mostly enjoyed his music but we found it very hard to understand him because he spoke so quickly. One of his songs was dedicated to his mum and was all about drinking tea. Very cute!
Second act was Lior, an Australian singer songwriter who I’d heard was quite good. His music was fine but nothing to get too excited about. The highlight for me was his cover of a Radiohead tune that I do know. I felt like he had more life to him then than during any other song. He also had a string quartet accompanying him on some songs although they seemed to spend most of their time just sitting there. Overall, kind of underwhelming but not bad.
The crowd up near the stage had filled out by the time Lior finished and the crowd was quite ready for Australian icon, Paul Kelly. I think normally he has a full band in his shows but this time he was just accompanied by his nephew, Dan Kelly, on guitar. Although Paul Kelly has been around for many years, we’d never seen him. Ironically, we’ve now seen Dan three times and he’s quite talented in his own right. The set was a good mix of songs that most of the crowd would know. There were only a couple I’d never heard before, so I felt quite satisfied and able to sing along. I was quite surprised to see Neil Finn joining them on stage at the end of the set for a song he has often covered in his shows. The Scientist apparently had spoilers of this surprise when he heard one of the roadies make mention of Neil’s microphone while setting up. So he was able to give me a bit of warning. Â I managed to get quite a few photos during the set and was happily surprised later on to find Paul Kelly photographs extremely well. At least for me, he does. :-D
During the interval before Neil Finn’s set, it suddenly became quite cramped up in front of the stage. Earlier on, the Scientist had given his space on my right to an enthusiastic fan behind him and she was forever grateful to him. Behind me and to my left a bit, a woman was pushing her way to the front. Or at least she was trying to get up to the front. She was already quite inebriated and was demanding that she be allowed to stand in the front row because she’d been waiting twenty years for this. She was quite rude and was accompanied by a partner who wasn’t much better. She was mostly trying to get in front of the Scientist and I guess squeeze in next to me. He wasn’t allowing it nor was anyone else in the vicinity. Most of us in that area were well-behaved and considerate but she wasn’t. Eventually she did settle down and accept she wasn’t getting closer than the row behind the front row. And really, it wasn’t that bad there either…
After the interval, Neil Finn returned to the stage and gave a wonderful performance on just guitar. Well, actually there were a few different guitars but no other instruments. It’s lovely to hear the full band performance with all the detail in the songs we love. But there is something quite pleasing about the simplicity of a single instrument. Neil was fairly jet-lagged, having come in from the UK a day or so beforehand. But he pulled off a crowd-pleasing performance with a mix of solo, Crowded House and Split Enz songs. At one point in the show, the enthusiastic and well-mannered fan that the Scientist had given his space to had a pretty special  experience when Neil asked for a fan to help him out on guitar and was looking for the first one over the barrier. She was over in a flash and accompanied him for one song, looking quite at ease. The Scientist and I both took some photos of her on-stage. Unfortunately I didn’t think to try the video until later. After the show, we found out she plays locally as part of a duo and she gave us her card for contact details. We were both able to share our photos with her, for which she was very grateful. Near the end of the show, Paul and Dan Kelly returned to the stage to help out singing Four Seasons in One Day. And the audience joined in too, as they did on a number of other well known songs. The sing-along was well-demonstrated here in Perth. Overall it was a very satisfying show that will live long in my memory. The show finished just after midnight, which was pretty late by local standards where venues seem to have early curfews of 10 or 11pm.
I was going to add photos but I don’t suppose I will get this finished if I need the extra time. So…
I also uploaded videos to YouTube here.
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Falling behind
I have been working on a post from my birthday for a few weeks now. It’s not so much that it’s long but I’m trying to include photos and that seems to take a lot of time. I will hopefully have that up in a day or two…maybe within a month of my birthday if I stick to it long enough.
Meanwhile, the year continues to pass by so quickly that it’s hard to imagine we’re near the end of the fourth month already. Despite the passing of the months, the seasons have been a bit more sluggish. We finally saw the beginning of autumn weather a couple weeks ago after a particularly warm start to April. The nights are definitely much cooler now but summer has not left us just yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty warm and it’s going to be hot on Friday, hopefully the last gasp of summer. Then we are due for possible showers over the long weekend. I won’t hold my breath at this possibility as it only leaves room for disappointment. I think it’s quite possible we will be watering our yard well into winter this year.
That said, the Scientist and I are going to an outdoor concert venue on Monday night to see Neil Finn and Paul Kelly perform. We believe it’s more likely to rain then than at any other time. Of course, it could very well rain at the venue but not here at home. It’s located in the Perth hills, which have had considerably more precipitation than we have in recent months. This will be the first time seeing Paul Kelly and a first solo Neil Finn show for us. It’s a special Anzac Day show called Songlines and will also feature Lior And Ben Merito, singer/songwriters from Australia and New Zealand. It should be a special night of  Australian and New Zealand music in the hills overlooking Perth.
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Crowded House, November 14th
Last Sunday, the Scientist and I had the pleasure of seeing Crowded House again and it was a really great show. A major plus this time was the close proximity to home. There is a winery near us called Sandalford Estate that started doing concerts a few years ago and this is the first one we’ve attended there. We arrived shortly after the gates opened but the traffic getting in was backed up quite a bit. Still, we were inside and parked within the first fifteen minutes, I think. We had a couple problems with the cooler we took in. Firstly, we weren’t allow to take in our real forks so the Scientist returned cutlery to the car, leaving me with the cooler and other things. Then I got up to the front where I wanted to sit and was told I couldn’t keep the cooler there as it was a standing area only. It is a big cooler and it wasn’t very full. I decided to take it back to the car and move the food into a smaller cooler bag from the grocery store once I’d found the Scientist as he returned. Eventually we did get settled right up at the front. Most of the people had stayed further back so they could use picnic blankets and low chairs, etc. There were only a handful of us die-hard fans up front.
Once we were settled, we had a bit of food and waited for the first of the two opening acts to reach the stage, which was probably an hour after we had claimed our space. The first act was a local Perth band. Their music was fine but there was nothing I’d rush out to buy on cd. The second act were also good but were far more engaged with the audience. The singer chatted at length about the absolutely gorgeous sunset we were experiencing. For several days before the show we’d had strong, gusty and chilly winds all through the evening. On this night, though, we had some beautifully warm weather with an almost perfect breeze. The sunset was an attractive bonus.Â
Once the second act had finished its set, there was another break while the roadies set up for Crowded House.  The Scientist went off in search of toilet facilities while I held our spot in front of the stage. While he was gone, a guy came up to my left and started chatting. I’m a pretty die-hard Crowded House fan, but this guy makes me look like a casual fan. He did a bit of showing off of all the concerts he has attended but seemed to accept me as one of the more serious fans. The Scientist returned and joined in the conversation while we waited for the show to begin.
The show itself was quite an event with many of my favorite songs being played. The crowd was particularly responsive and the band was in fine form. Every song seemed to get special treatment. And we were at the front so had very little obstruction and a close view of the band. There was a group of people next to us who were in fine spirits, having indulged in quite a bit of wine over the evening. One of them threw a doll up to the stage with Neil Finn’s face pasted on. But it got no attention at that point so through much of the remaining show there were constant chants to him to look at the doll, which was sometimes a bit distracting. Unlike the show I saw earlier this year at the Blues and Roots festival, I never felt like I was in a crush of people. And aside from a strange woman who came up behind me and rubbed herself up against me, everyone was very respectful of personal space. The woman apparently came out of nowhere and pushed up against me but didn’t remain there. It’s a mystery what that was about.  The band dedicated an incredibly moving song to Paul Hester, the band’s original drummer who committed suicide five and half years ago. Neil Finn’s wife came on stage twice to sing on a couple of songs. Several planes flew overhead…the venue is quite near the airport and there was a steady stream of air traffic going in to land.  The crowd sang along in fine voice to many of the band’s popular songs. It was a great feeling to be part of that crowd.  At quarter to ten and after an encore, the show came to an end.
Once the crowd behind us thinned a bit, we started to find our way out, stopping at the merchandise stand to buy a programme. We reached the car and waited a bit longer for traffic to clear. There were a couple of exits available and traffic was heading to them from all directions. It looked very chaotic before we started out. But once we got going we found our way to a line of traffic and found there were parking staff directing vehicles in a very orderly way to the back exit. We were out in pretty quick order and were soon on the road home. I think we did well to exit through the back because when we passed the entrance, traffic was still quite backed up. We arrived home less than fifteen minutes after leaving the venue. It was an exceptionally satisfying evening.
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West Coast Blues and Roots Festival (very long)
Okay, so it’s now three days after the fact and I’m still feeling rather run down after this event. But to back up, this is a festival that’s been running successfully from Fremantle for several years now. I’ve never been to the event before but when I heard Crowded House were headlining, there was no question as to whether I would go. I think the definition of blues and roots must be really stretched to include Crowded House (or a few of the other acts), especially as headliners. Anyway, I bought my ticket the day they went on sale.
This was something of a new experience for me in more than one way. I’ve never been to a festival of this nature. What seems a lifetime ago, the Scientist and I did attend a concert festival at Carowinds in Charlotte where Stevie Nicks was headlining. But in that case, all the acts played on the same stage. This festival had four stages of various sizes with acts playing throughout the day. But the biggest new experience is that I was on my own for this one. It ran from late morning until 10pm and we weren’t really comfortable with the idea of leaving the boys for such a long time on their own. Before this event was announced, we’d already booked tickets to see the musical, Chicago, for Saturday afternoon, so the boys were already going to be on their own all Saturday afternoon. So the Scientist decided he’d stay home and I would go by myself. It wasn’t an ideal situation but I went along with it.
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Tim Finn, take two
Last month, the Scientist and I attended our second Tim Finn show of the year. We saw him at the end of February at a music club about an hour away. That was a nice show and the support act, Meg Washington, was very good. We came away quite pleased at the time although it wouldn’t rank as a particularly magical one. Fast forward to November 21st and we had tickets to see again him at the Quarry Amphitheatre, a small and intimate outdoor theater near the coast.
We’d never been to this venue but the rave reviews all are well-warranted. We arrived well before the gates opened and stood in line for what seemed like ages. When we finally got in, it was no problem getting right up to the front of the venue for prime viewing. Despite both of us being well into our forties, we were some of the youngest attendees there. I guess the older folks prefer to have more comfortable seating rather than sit on the ground at the front. We managed reasonably well although the Scientist did describe a certain amount of discomfort after the first hour or so. We packed a small picnic dinner to avoid the exorbitant prices of the cafe only to find they had panini at a very reasonable price. Later on we ended up buying gelato ice cream and that was rather dear…but very tasty.
Anyway, the show opened with Andy Bull, a singer/songwriter whose voice still hasn’t completely broken well into his twenties. He addressed this trait early on with great humor and presented a very entertaining set filled with songs and the stories behind them. We like him enough to buy his cd during the intermission.
Tim Finn appeared on stage not long after 8pm and the night became truly magical. I think his performance really benefitted from having a full band this time around as opposed to being an almost solo performance in the February show (with only a guitarist for accompaniment). The songs seemed to really come alive this time. This tour was supporting an anthology album andthe show provided a good mix of all the stages of his career from his Split Enz years to his most recent solo album. Both the Scientist and I were treated to our favorite Tim Finn songs, I See Red and Dirty Creature, respectively. On the three previous shows where we’ve seen him, we’ve had to settle for one or the other. Dirty Creature has always sounded great but this had to be my favorite version yet. It was an outstanding performance.
At the end of the night, we both were quite satisfied and left with a souvenir tea towel, which seems to be in “thing” to take away from just about any Finn related show. It now hangs nicely from the bookcase next to my desk. On the way home, we stopped at the beach for a little while before coming home, which topped off such a wonderful evening.
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Augie March
We are off to see Augie March play as headliners for a concert next month. Last year we saw them open for Crowded House and while we loved the set, we were left wanting far more. We’re hoping the next show will go further to satisfy our listening pleasure.
Meanwhile, I’ve heard rumors that Crowded House may be playing some shows before a festival in December. I don’t know if Perth will be included but I am sincerly hoping…I should have more information before long.